Consensual Purification

I've yet to explain the title of this blog so here goes. Consensual refers to our aim for our family life. In the sense of Consensual Living or Radical Unschooling, applied to all relationships within our family unit. Purification refers initially to the Vajrasattva practice I began around the same time as I began this blog but also to the idea that living peacefully with our children (and spouses) will contribute little by little to peace for all beings. Even or perhaps even more so when it's bloody hard (hence purification).

Adjusting to life with one less computer and more

I've already mentioned the demise of my dearly beloved laptop. She is much mourned by M as the last remaining source of dvd viewing pleasure (the drive in P's laptop having been worn out from over-use in the months following A's birth). That means we compete to get our screentime fix from the itty-bitty HP Mini thingy. Which really means that M gets her fix (of youtube or reading eggs usually) while I'm cleaning or cooking or putting A to bed and I get mine late at night when she is finally asleep and he wakes for more milk & sleeps on my lap while I read or right now, blog.
P has quit or is in the process of quitting his main client. Which is, I must say, the best news I've heard in a long time. The house feels different already. The children are enjoying having two parents instead of one and a bit and I am enjoying less cooking (as well as the conversation). No doubt it will bring us a little closer to the (financial) edge than we have been used to for the past few years but it's nowhere we haven't been before and the benefits abound :)

Ooops!

Doesn't everyone have to make a post like this sometime? My laptop appears to be dead. Vale, dear friend. You served me well. However...............No kudos to me for never quite getting around to backing up the photos or the library data for Kunsang Yeshe I say again. Oops!

If you've ever doubted

That it's difficult to do anything in a kitchen with a toddler around and especially if you've ever wondered why mother's complain about how difficult cleaning is just take a look at what can happen in 20 seconds...

He had fun.

Anger

Gosh, is it that time of the month already? The time when anger explodes out of me before I even realise I'm angry. When the look on my little girl's face is what makes me notice I'm shouting. Sigh. Better take some magnesium...

Foster Care

Am I crazy? Fostering is something I've always wanted to do. My previous partner and I went through the application process, were approved and about to start training courses when we moved interstate. Since then I've either been concentrating on music or breeding small ones of my own. However last week I saw an ad (a rather desperate ad actually) in an op-shop and it's been eating away at me since then. Could we do it? Could our littlies handle it?
Questions questions questions

Ouch

For three days now I've had awful stomach cramps starting in the mid-afternoon. I am hereby officially diagnosing myself with colic (the horse kind, not the baby kind). I've obviously been eating too much lush spring grass!